Smartphones have become so predictable that even deliberate leaks aimed at generating pre-launch hype seem uninteresting. The entire industry is well aware of how boring cell phones have become, even if they don't admit it publicly. Now, the industry is also bracing for the impact of artificial intelligence, with many leading smartphone manufacturers predicting that AI will dramatically change mobile devices.
The idea that people upgrade to new phones every six months or even a year has never been entirely true. This was especially not the case in the early stages of launch, when smartphones were just introduced and garnered attention. Some of us don't upgrade our phones at all unless the device breaks or we encounter a major problem. In fact, sales of smartphones are stagnant, partly because there is a strong sense of praise for innovation. While companies like Samsung and Motorola offer flip phones and foldable phones that offer more space in pocket-sized phones, these devices actually take the experience and user interface in new directions. It's not something that pushes you up. The small share of foldable devices in the overall smartphone market proves that enlarging the screen won't solve the problems users have with mobile devices.
But tech companies aren't giving up on smartphones just yet, and the reason is simple: It's all about money.
Consider the case of the iPhone. iPhone sales reached $69.7 billion in the first quarter of 2024, accounting for 50% of the company's total revenue in the previous quarter. This number is greater than the revenue of many Fortune 500 companies (despite flat smartphone shipments and declining profits for hardware makers), so you can imagine how profitable the iPhone will be for Apple. right. Samsung also makes billions of dollars from selling Galaxy smartphones.
Both Samsung and Apple are not only the world's top sellers of smartphones, but also have a huge impact on global mobile phone profits. And Google, the maker of Android, which runs on most smartphones, dominates mobile search, along with other apps like Gmail, Maps, and the Google Play app store. The entire ecosystem, including chip makers and developers, will come together to further expand the mobile space.
“Gen AI comes to smartphones”
Again, this year's phones look a lot like last year's. But the real innovation is what's under the hood at both the chip and software level: AI. Tech companies hope consumers will turn to artificial intelligence in smartphones as the next big thing. AI has been powering mobile phones for years, but now the plan is to power the everyday functions people use on their smartphones.
Samsung's Galaxy S24 and Google Pixel 8 have already demonstrated how AI can be used to simplify complex tasks. This is made possible by AI, especially generative artificial intelligence. This refers to artificial intelligence models trained on large amounts of data that generate new content when you provide prompts. Both phones run generation AI through the mobile device. This allows AI chatbots and apps to run on the phone's own hardware and software, rather than leveraging data center cloud services like how OpenAI's popular ChatGPT or Microsoft's Copilot works. You will be able to do it.
Beyond the display, design, and S Pen, the star feature of the Galaxy S24 Ultra (review) is “Galaxy AI.” Some are made by Samsung, others by Google. Many of the AI features require an internet connection, while others run entirely on your device. This means that you don't necessarily need to be constantly connected to the Internet to use these features.
Perhaps the most sophisticated AI feature on the Galaxy S24 Ultra is Circle To Search. Search anything on the screen by simply circling the screen with your finger. For example, if you see a new aviator-style sunglasses that your friend is wearing in an Instagram post and you want to know more about it, all he has to do is press the Home button for one second. This triggers a transparent filter that covers the screen and displays a number of search results for Aviator-style shades. Another feature called Live Translate allows your Galaxy S24 to transform into a personal interpreter during a call by translating audio in real-time. Circle to Search and Live Translate are among several AI-enabled features introduced to Samsung's Galaxy S24 series.
Meanwhile, Google has been promoting its new Pixel 8 lineup as legitimate “AI phones” since day one. So it's no surprise that the Pixel 8 Pro relies heavily on new AI features. For example, Magic Editor lets you reframe a photo or remove objects. Audio Eraser, on the other hand, uses all AI to remove wind noise and other annoying sounds. The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro (review) come with a recorder app that can automatically summarize your conversations and send you a few important bullet points.
Motorola has also entered the Gen AI race, adding an AI layer to its latest Edge 50 Pro to improve the camera and built-in AI wallpapers. Although the implementation of Gen AI has not been as aggressive as Samsung's, the brand seems interested in offering AI features that consumers can see the difference in. “We're not just trying to build AI capabilities into smartphones and sell them on that basis. The important thing is what are they good for and what do we use them for? As we always do at Motorola, we will bring our own take on this,” Ruben Castano, Head of Customer Experience and Design, Motorola Mobility, recently told indianexpress.com. Ta.
OnePlus' announcement (along with Oppo) that it will bring Google-powered Gemini AI to its smartphones “later this year” shows that no brand wants to be left behind in this competition. OnePlus has already started adding more AI features to its devices, as it recently added an AI-based photo eraser tool for photos to its phones, but one step at a time.
Going forward, the pressure will be on brands that cut deals with companies like Google and don't have the resources or AI strategy to add AI capabilities to smartphones. Without AI-infused features, it will be difficult to sell new phones, especially flagships, to consumers.
However, all eyes will be on Apple as the entire industry waits to see how the Cupertino giant plans to integrate AI into its devices, especially the iPhone. Apple has been secretive about his AI plans, but industry watchers say the company is poised to announce new updates to its operating system that may include generative artificial intelligence features. However, for a change, Apple may need help from Google or OpenAI to catch up with the generative AI boom. That's because the tech giant may collaborate with external partners to bring cloud-based AI capabilities to its devices.
But the challenge for Apple and other companies looking to a future where the computing that enables generative AI like ChatGPT happens on devices is how fast they can process queries even when offline. is. This technical challenge requires reducing the size of large language models that power AI and high-performance mobile processors to enable on-device AI.
There are advantages to running large language models natively on smartphones versus running them in the cloud. Privacy is one of the benefits, as all the processing power is done on the device and there is no need to send private data to distant servers. However, the biggest advantage of on-device AI is efficiency, as running Gen AI applications and functions on the cloud is costly and expensive. This is why OpenAI charges a certain fee from consumers to use the paid version of his ChatGPT.
“The key to AI smartphones lies in the software.”
The future of smartphones will depend on how AI and software work together to change the user interface and, in turn, the form factor, rather than the “bogus” stuff we use today. The AI adds a layer on top of the software, changing the interface depending on the device's form factor, similar to R1, an AI-enabled handheld system from AI startup Rabbit Inc. But the red-orange square device is actually a tool to experience the software and AI-powered technology within Rabbit's operating system, called R1 or Rabbit OS. The best way to describe R1 is as a virtual assistant in the form of a pocket computer. But this is just the beginning for AI-powered gadgets.
“I think the apps will coexist, but they'll be integrated into the human interface. Sometimes they don't even need to be launched. The assistant will get the data they need,” said Qualcomm's Senior Mobile, Compute and XR. Vice President and General Manager Alex Katouzian told indianexpress.com during the Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii last year.
Smartphones will also be heading in the same direction. Figuratively speaking, you will still be using your smartphone 10 years from now. Perhaps the shape and form factor will change, or perhaps it will keep the same look as it does now, but the concept of a pocket computer will remain the same. But what will really change is how deeply AI is integrated into hardware, software, and applications. You end up buying a phone purely to see how well the phone interface is adapted and integrated with generative artificial intelligence elements. Think about how many Android skins there are. Some players use stock Android, Samsung uses his OneUI, and Nothing offers NothingOS. Basically, they are all powered by Google's Android operating system, but have their own unique take on Android.
The idea of a smartphone built around artificial intelligence that can be used as a personal interpreter or something else entirely without an internet connection is an interesting one. This new kind of technology has a chance to make smartphones exciting again, and maybe even a reason to upgrade. This also opens up the idea for mobile phone brands to increase their revenue streams by charging for certain features, such as his AI transcription service for students and journalists. It could be the beginning of fully personalized mobile phones, all powered by AI. The possibility of a new AI App Store appearing on smartphones cannot be ruled out.
Perhaps the biggest question on everyone's mind is how will AI-powered features, such as photo editing with Gen AI, draw the line between what's real and what's fake online? Is it going to make it even more vague? Last month, the creator of ChatGPT and OpenAI unveiled a new technology that allows him to recreate a person's voice by recording just 15 seconds of a person's conversation. Experts are concerned that this tool could facilitate fraud and fraud. OpenAI itself admits that widespread use of the technology is too risky. Unless checked, AI-generated content with no connection to reality can pose a real threat in the age of social media.
However, as some industry observers believe, generative AI models are not yet fully convincing as they are prone to factual errors and can be inaccurate. The question is how “biased” are AI chatbots like Google Gemini. Nevertheless, Google is actively advancing its AI advancements. We develop our own AI models, partner with mobile phone manufacturers and others to deploy our AI technology to their devices, have a large cloud network for AI processing, and access a huge user base. .
The speed at which these tech companies are bringing their on-device AI models to smartphones will further accelerate the pervasiveness of AI in our lives, with some calling it “fuzzy” or “AI overload.” Maybe just let it happen. Both Samsung and Google recently extended the newly introduced Gen AI feature to older devices through software updates. This helps us understand how aggressive these brands are in giving us a glimpse of what Gen AI can do on smartphones. In fact, Google expects more advanced large-scale language models to arrive on Android phones next year. Gemini Nano, the company's efficient model of “on-device” AI, is already viable on Pixel devices and certain Android smartphones. We may be entering a new phase of smartphones where “AI” is left and center.
